Sea of a Thousand Stars
by beautifulEnmity
Summary: Fukami is the one who is there for Wadanohara after Samekichi left to seal the Sea of Death. He helps her recover and pushes his feelings for her aside so she can be happy. After all, he only wants her to be happy.


_"I felt myself reaching out to the stars, captivated by their beauty. They illuminate the sky every night, like little pieces of hope and never ending trust. They guide people through the darkness, helping them with their light. The stars are beautiful. I reached as far as I could, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn't reach them..."_

It all started after Samekichi had disappeared. Wadanohara had started crying and having nightmares every night. She would come to him for comfort. After all, he was her familiar, her friend.  
After waking up from a nightmare she would come over to his bed, knowing that he was still awake. She wouldn't say anything, just slip under the sheets next to him. Hugging him tight, her tear stained face buried in his warm chest, she would finally be able to sleep peacefully.  
After a while, when he was sure Wadanohara was asleep, he would start stroking her wavy brown hair and wiping away her tears. And everytime his heart would break a little bit more.  
He loved Wadanohara.  
It had taken quite a while for him to realize, but now he was aware of his feelings for her and this realization only made everything so much more painful. He wished those feelings would disappears. It was painstakingly obvious that she would never return them. The way she had protected Samekichi when everyone thought he was a traitor and how much she cherished the ocarina he gave her were more than enough evidence for him to know. To know that the girl he loved was in love with someone else.  
Now that person had disappeared and he left a girl at the verge of despair, crying over her loss. It had broken his heart to see Wadanohara's body recovering from the injury Sal inflicted on her, but her eyes were lifeless and her spirit broken. Nothing much had changed since then. She was still broken and now helplessly crying over the decision Samekichi made.  
He knew that this may be his chance. His chance to become the new love of Wadanohara's life. He knew it...but he couldn't. He just couldn't use this situation to his own advantage. Seeing the one he loved despairing over someone else's absence hurt, but he still wanted to make her feel better.  
That had been the reason he talked to her on that one day on the boat. What he told her on that day - everything he told her had been the truth.  
A painful truth for him, but it had helped Wadanohara recover.  
Since then she had come to him for comfort. He had accepted it. He knew he shouldn't have, but he kept telling himself he did it because he was her friend.  
A friend comforting a friend.  
But he soon couldn't even convince himself like that. He hoped.  
He hoped so much.  
He didn't exactly knew what he he was hoping for.  
For Wadanohara to notice his feelings and return them?  
Or simply that she would stop crying?  
He didn't know anymore.  
But he still continued to hope.  
Every day, while he stroked her hair and looked down on her finally serene face, he hoped.  
At some point he had realized what he was hoping for. It had been the first time Wadanohara had smiled after Samekichi's disappearance and it had made his heart flutter and a warm feeling spreading in his chest.  
It was then that he simply hoped that Wadanohara would be happy again.  
As time passed Wadanohara would gradually get better. She had learned to deal with the sadness inside of her heart because of him. Believing in Samekichi, that he would come back, just as he told her to. It had helped her to keep the despair in check.  
He was glad. Glad she was better - even if only a little.  
When she was happy, he was happy too. Happy that Wadanohara could continue living.  
He didn't know if he hoped that Samekichi would come back.  
At first he did, so that Wadanohara could be happy again.  
But now he just hoped everything would stay this way.

Then he came back. Back to Wadanohara.

She had been so glad that Samekichi was back. Smiling everyday, a little sun for everyone who got to meet her.  
He had wanted Wadanohara to be happy.  
Now she was.  
Smiling when holding hands with Samekichi and laughing her beautiful laugh, made everyone feel better.  
She was happy.  
He loved her - only wanted her to be happy, so what was that feeling inside his chest.  
Everytime he saw those two together that feeling got stronger - a force pushing on his chest, making it hard to breathe.  
Wadanohara stopped coming to him at night and there was a feeling of emptiness she left in the large bed next to him. He couldn't feel her warmth anymore, her heart beating against his chest.  
He would just lay alone and quite on his bed, listening to the sound of his own heartbeat until daybreak.  
And he would live through another day. The crushing feeling remained.  
And it would make it more difficult to breath every passing day.

Now he was floating on the ocean surface, the night sky stretching above him.  
The starlight was reflected by the water making him feel like he was floating in the sky.  
He could feel his heart beating loud against his chest.  
He closed his eyes and remembered Wadanohara's heartbeat for a short moment.  
He opened his eyes again and let himself drift away.  
The stars were so pretty, their light so pure and clear like Wadanohara's eyes.  
They reminded him so much of her.

He found himself reaching out to the stars, although he knew he couldn't reach them.  
He would always be watching them from afar, enjoying their beauty.  
But he would never get closer to them.  
He would never reach them.


End file.
